The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for transmitting data to mobile platforms including aircraft, and more particularly to a system and method that automates and synchronizes the supply of operational data to a mobile platform from an entity operating the mobile platform, and vice versa, such that operation of the mobile platform in accordance with a predetermined schedule can be ensured.
The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
In the operation of aircraft, and commercially commercial passenger aircraft and cargo aircraft, it is required that certain data be made available and loaded into various subsystems of the aircraft prior to dispatch of the aircraft. Currently, this is typically done via paper documents which must be delivered to the aircraft by an individual prior to dispatch. As will be appreciated, the manual delivery of paper documents requires coordination between multiple airline backoffice systems that are used to generate the needed data, and consideration of airline dispatch procedures, to ensure the delivery of the data sufficiently prior to the scheduled dispatch (i.e., departure) time of the aircraft. This can give rise to delays in dispatching the aircraft when the timing of the availability of the data, or its physical delivery to the flight crew of the aircraft, does not meet the dispatch requirement of the aircraft. Examples of different types of information/data that need to be provided to the pilot and/or co-pilot prior to departure of the aircraft are the Flight Folder for the flight crew, passenger information for the flight crew.
In most cases, this data must be provided to the aircraft and during the mission, the flight and cabin crew enter other data which must be transmitted back to the airline. Currently this is done via paperwork. The problem is that during disruptions, the data must be hand delivered to the aircraft which may incur delays. Because the data is in paper form, the crew reports must be in paper form as well, which requires later data entry to allow other backoffice systems to record and disseminate the data.